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You think the Web still isn't full of people letting their freak flags fly? You can still see this on twitch, YT, tiktok, etc. Just like Geocities represents a

by dfxm12 4y ago

You think the Web still isn't full of people letting their freak flags fly? You can still see this on twitch, YT, tiktok, etc. Just like Geocities represents amateur or even naive web development/web design, there are the same types of people trying to create video content. Even Twitter (including the "weird Twitter" genre of tweets) and other social media sites are full of amateur commentators, writers, comedians, musicians, etc. Web development/web design, including the tools and techniques available to the hobbyist has just gotten much more mature. People no longer feel like a kid in the candy store in terms of adding blinking text and rotating gifs, and tutorial websites are no longer showing these examples.

BrainVirus 4y ago
TikTok to Geocities is what AstroTurf is to real grass.
chasing 4y ago
Of course there's still a lot of freaky flag-flying happening. I just meant that now it feels like everyone's shouting in the same room — a room 1/3rd full of people trying to maximize the cash value of shouting and 1/3rd full of straight-up grifters. Whereas in the late-90s millennium fever it felt more like you were laying out the crazy foundation of some optimistic future.
rchaud 4y ago
Sorry, but TikTok is not modern-day Geocities, not even a bit. The operative word is "City": Geocities let you browse individual "neighborhoods" of websites at your leisure. It stayed out of the way, giving you the satisfaction of discovering little weird nooks and crannies on your own time, just as you would by traveling to a real city. Website makers also weren't trying to go viral and be invited on to the Jimmy Kimmel show. There is nothing organic about TikTok. You have to wade through a deluge of formulaic dance videos set to repetitive music clips for about an hour before the all-powerful algorithm determines that maybe you're not interested in that. For a platform that probably has billions of videos (Geocities never did), discoverability outside of the algorithm is impossible, because the search functionality sucks.

by dfxm12 4y ago

BrainVirus 4y ago

TikTok to Geocities is what AstroTurf is to real grass.

chasing 4y ago

Of course there's still a lot of freaky flag-flying happening. I just meant that now it feels like everyone's shouting in the same room — a room 1/3rd full of people trying to maximize the cash value of shouting and 1/3rd full of straight-up grifters. Whereas in the late-90s millennium fever it felt more like you were laying out the crazy foundation of some optimistic future.

rchaud 4y ago

Sorry, but TikTok is not modern-day Geocities, not even a bit. The operative word is "City": Geocities let you browse individual "neighborhoods" of websites at your leisure. It stayed out of the way, giving you the satisfaction of discovering little weird nooks and crannies on your own time, just as you would by traveling to a real city. Website makers also weren't trying to go viral and be invited on to the Jimmy Kimmel show. There is nothing organic about TikTok. You have to wade through a deluge of formulaic dance videos set to repetitive music clips for about an hour before the all-powerful algorithm determines that maybe you're not interested in that. For a platform that probably has billions of videos (Geocities never did), discoverability outside of the algorithm is impossible, because the search functionality sucks.